Amaryllis
by Fenouil
Summary: Update. Tsuzuki, Hisoka, and Hijiri gets some trouble from a book and oh! Muraki's there too! Meanwhile, Tatsumi and Watari are frantically trying to solve this crisis in vain and save all of their lives. TsuXHis (my first YnM fic, please review!)
1. The Book

_Disclaimer: _Yami no Matsuei is not mine, I don't want to own it because I'll probably totally ruin the wonderful characters anyway so I'm sticking with fanfiction. 

_Author's Note: _This is my first YnM fanfic. I had this idea, gave up on it, but yesterday it started bothering me again and I felt like writing so here it is. The plot is more or less complete in my head. I just hope I can write it all down. Oh, and a great big thanks to my beta-reader, Blue Lure (BL for short XD). Please review, it'll be a blessing to me.

xXx

**Amaryllis**

_Chapter One: The Book_

Hisoka was bored. Idly he twirled a pen in his fingers and yawned. For once, there seemed to be nothing unusual going on, therefore, no case to be solved. It didn't bother Hisoka's ever-genki partner, however, who was probably wandering around the cake shops.

The boy sighed. Generally no case meant good news but as the library, which Tsuzuki and Terazuma had blown up, was still undergoing certain rebuilding, it left Hisoka with practically nothing to do. That of course was not a good idea for he tended to start brooding, which always made him depressed and short-tempered. He put down the pen and decided to take a walk.

It wasn't long before he was outside, surrounded by all the magical sakura trees that stayed in bloom all year. He strolled lazily, enjoying the spring weather and letting his mind drift. He was thinking about Tsuzuki when it suddenly triggered a thought. He decided to pay a little visit to the Hakushaku.

xXx

Tsuzuki had just come back from his favourite cake shop when he realized that he was in trouble. Tatsumi was pissed. Tatsumi was scary when he was pissed. And Tatsumi was pissed at Tsuzuki.

"Where have you been?!" It would have been a roar if it was anyone other than Tatsumi but Tatsumi never roared.

Tsuzuki cowered and tried to make himself invisible. "Um...the cake sh..."

"You do realize it's not lunch time yet," the secretary glared.

"...I know...but we haven't had a case for a while and I was...hungry..." Tsuzuki gave Tatsumi his best whipped-puppy look complete with drooping tail and ears. He flinched when the other shinigami slammed a piece of paper on to the desk. Tsuzuki stared at it then looked up at Tatsumi.

"Your next case," Tatsumi smiled icily before leaving a very dejected looking Tsuzuki with the sheet of paper and the cake.

xXx

"Feel free to take whatever you like,"

"Thank you, Hakushaku-sama,"

"Oh and next time, do bring Tsuzuki with you. I haven't seen him in a while," With that the Hakushaku left with a wink at Hisoka. Hisoka rolled his eyes.

He was soon captivated by the size of the library. Like the rest of the rooms in the manor, it was decorated elaborately with sofas, desks, reading lamps and shelves of books. It was beautiful and looked to be quite comfortable.

He took a few minutes just wandering between the shelves staring at the different labels and titles on the spines. He loved books. They were filled with such intense emotions portrayed by the words. And words were something that he can handle unlike the raw emotions from people that constantly gave him a headache.

Hisoka stopped in front of a collection of Shakespeare's works. He ran his hands across the bindings gently. He had read all of the plays and most of the poems and had found Shakespeare quite wonderful, especially the tragedies. Somehow, they gave him a feeling of reality because Hisoka just didn't believe in happy endings.

_It's a good thing Tsuzuki had that accident or else I would never have discovered Hakushaku-sama's library._()

He plucked a book off the shelf at random and headed for one of the cushioned sofas. The title read 'Amaryllis'. There was no author. Hisoka stared at it in curiosity. But before he could open it, the Hakushaku came in with a message.

"Kurosaki-kun, Tatsumi said he needs you back immediately. I think you have a new case."

Hisoka only nodded, grabbed the book and left.

xXx

It was just his rotten luck to be getting a case right when he had actually found something to do! And on top of that, Tsuzuki had to get Tatsumi mad and now they had to leave in a hurry to get away from Tatsumi's wrath, which was why he was still holding that damn book with nowhere safe to put it down. He had a feeling that Hakushaku-sama wouldn't be very happy if the book got destroyed. And what had Tsuzuki just said about the case? Potentially dangerous. Great! No pressure, no pressure at all! Tsuzuki was muttering something again...

"WHAT?!" Hisoka exploded.

"I said, I think I just saw Muraki over there..." Tsuzuki pointed.

Hisoka groaned. "I have a headache."

All the panic from the people screaming and running toward the exit is taking a toll on his empathy. He rubbed his temple briefly and gritted his teeth.

"You ok?" Tsuzuki asked, concern written all over his face.

"'m fine. Come on, we have to find that last bomb and figure out how to lower those shields so that the people can get out!" Hisoka grabbed Tsuzuki's sleeve with his free hand (the other was holding the book) and pulled him in the opposite direction from where the crowd was gathering. They ran inside the concert hall only to see a few dead bodies and cracked walls and ceiling that threatened to cave in any second.

"Back stage!" Hisoka yelled out before jumping onto the stage and running behind the curtains.

It was here, the last bomb. He could sense the residue of emotion from the culprit. His heart pounded furiously and sweat began forming on the palms of his hands. How long did they have before the bomb went off? _Don't think about it! Concentrate on finding the bomb!_ But too late, he was already nauseated at all the fear and panic drifting from the crowd and the thought that all those people might die did no good in calming his mind.

A gentle, soothing hand landed on his shoulder, "It's alright, Hisoka, calm down." Tsuzuki's said, looking into his eyes. Hisoka stared back, relaxing a little under his partner's gaze. He wondered how Tsuzuki could affect him like this every time. He wasn't complaining though because Tsuzuki's presence did help him concentrate and get a grip on his empathy. He took a deep breath and opened himself completely to the emotions in the darkened backstage.

xXx

Tatsumi and Watari stood on the stairs of Hakushaku-sama's manor and knocked on the door. They had been summoned with great urgency by the Count who had sounded very troubled. Actually he had asked for Kurosaki-kun but Tatsumi had told him that he had already left.

Now both the secretary and the scientist, with 003 on his shoulder, stood, waiting for the door to open while wondering what on earth could make _that_ Hakushaku-sama afraid.

Watson opened the door and quickly led them to the library where a very distressed looking count was pacing around behind the library door.

"Ah, Tatsumi and Watari, you're finally here." He waved a hand for them to sit in the couches while Watson poured tea for them.

"So, what is this big emergency Hakushaku-sama...Thank you Watson," Tatsumi picked up his tea and took a sip out of it in a casual manner that betrayed nothing of his nervousness inside.

"My book,"

"Huh?" Watari said. Tatsumi only raised a brow.

"That boy took my book," Hakushaku-sama said, sounding hysterical.

"Uh...I had the impression that you gave Bon permission to borrow a book from your library." Watari said, exchanging a bewildered look with Tatsumi. If he hadn't had a bad feeling about this, he would have laughed at the strange look coming from half of a mask that was on the Count's invisible face.

"I did," The Count replied.

003 hooted and tilted his head to the side as if confused. "Ya, my thoughts exactly," Tatsumi muttered under his breath.

He placed the teacup back onto the plate and cleared his throat. "Hakushaku-sama, would you get to the point?" He gave a threatening glare at the Count who seemed to understand the warning and dropped down into another couch across from the two shinigamis.

"You remember that a few months ago, Tsuzuki accidentally ended up in one of my books?()" He asked. The shinigamis nodded. "Well, after that incident, I didn't think it was safe for that kind of thing to occur again so I placed a spell on the books I created. The spell, once activated, will prevent anything from passing into the world of the book so it would be safer if anyone else actually managed to find those books."

"But that's good isn't it? So what's the problem?" Watari asked.

"Kurosaki-kun has one of those books," The Count replied.

"I still don't see the problem here. You have that spell on the book don't you, well, then no one can get in the book." Tatsumi reasoned, annoyed that the Hakushaku won't get to the point.

The Count fidgeted uncomfortably, not looking at the secretary he replied in a small voice, "The spell hasn't been activated. It only activates when the plot and the characters are set and the story starts."

The shinigamis sat frozen in their seat, understanding finally dawning on them. "You mean whoever opens that book will become a character for whatever plot that the book comes up with?"

"Exactly,"

xXx

Well, he found the bomb and he found something much more dreadful than a bomb too.

"Konnichiwa, Tsuzuki-san," The ever smooth voice greeted from somewhere in the shadows. Tsuzuki jumped up immediately from where he had been dealing with the bomb, which was now a pile of ash, and placed Hisoka behind him protectively.

Hisoka just felt vaguely pissed that Muraki hadn't seen the need to greet him as well, as if he was worth nothing. But that thought was soon gone from his mind as Muraki showed himself.

The doctor was impeccable as ever with his white coat and pants. His mechanical eye glowed eerily in the semi-darkness. He had a huge smile on his face as if very satisfied and happy with himself. Indeed he had much reason to feel like celebrating. His plan was going well after all. There were two pretty toys to play with and his sweet Tsuzuki-san standing right there. He thanked his lucky star that he had stumbled upon this boy currently shaking in his arms. The boy didn't really need to be afraid of him, He had told him that he was going to let him go later. He just needed him for bait and he preferred his victims pretty. It was just a coincidence he happened to be a double of Hisoka, except for the hair, and that he was actually acquainted with the shinigamis.

"It's a trap!" The boy squeaked out a warning. Muraki grinned. Maybe the boy wasn't afraid for himself after all.

"Hijiri," Hisoka gasped.

xXx

"So I need the book back as soon as possible," The Count concluded.

Watari glanced at Tatsumi who was deep in thought. "That'll be kinda difficult." He said. At the Count's questioning look, he answered, "'Cause Bon took it with him on his case,"

the Hakushaku seemed like he was going to have a stroke soon.

"We'll go after them," Tatsumi stood up briskly and walked quickly for the door while Watari ran to catch up. He paused for a second before asking another question thoughtfully. "What's the plot like?"

"That depends on the characters,"

Tatsumi remembered the case he had briefly read over before handing it to Tsuzuki. He frowned, the only indication that he didn't like the situation. Whatever had caused trouble at the concert hall didn't sound like a spirit, heck, it didn't even sound like an evil spirit. So that limited the choices to a demon, or demons, which were bad enough and he didn't want to think what the book could come up with, with a bunch of demons and two shinigamis if they got sucked in. He didn't even want to think about something worse than the demons either.

"What would happen if...something unfortunate happened to the characters in the book?" He didn't want to know the answer but he had to ask it to understand the extent of the crisis they were in.

"For a normal human the effect will be permanent. I don't know about a shinigami though."

Tatsumi nodded. "Let's go, Watari-san," and he took off out the door. Tatsumi rarely ran but he did now.

"How in Enma's name did Bon pick out that book?! I mean that library is huge! Is it so hard to find something else?" Watari groaned.

Tatsumi shrugged. "We'll just have to get to them before that book gets opened."

"Easier said than done," Watari said. Tatsumi only shrugged again.

Watari groaned again, "I knew you shouldn't have said 'I will dock your pay if you're not out of Meifu in thirty seconds.'"

xXx

He could feel what Muraki wanted. Even before Tsuzuki asked the question and hearing Muraki's answer. A shiver went down his spine as unwanted memories assaulted his mind. His hand automatically tightened on Tsuzuki's sleeve. The other shinigami responded by giving him a light squeeze to his hand and sending out waves of reassurance while completely blocking Muraki from his view.

"I want my doll back, Tsuzuki-san," Muraki repeated pleasantly.

"No," Tsuzuki firmly replied.

Muraki turned his attention toward Hisoka. "Boy, you know what's going to happen to him if you don't come out from behind Tsuzuki-san. He'll do just fine too, you know. After all he is exactly like you,"

Hisoka heard a gasp from Hijiri and he felt Tsuzuki tense up. He closed his eyes tightly as if that could stop whatever Muraki was doing.

"You don't want him to suffer the same fate you did do you?" Muraki said in a coaxing tone. "But then again, maybe it'll be fun to see how long this one lasts."

Hisoka felt deep horror and disgust well up in him and he felt like throwing up right then and there. He didn't want another person to die like him, especially not Hijiri. He didn't deserve it. Taking a deep breath, he stepped out from behind Tsuzuki.

"Good boy," Muraki smiled and as Hisoka met those cold silver eyes, he suddenly felt a jolt of pain through the curse across his body. He cried out and dropped the book. He was falling, heard Tsuzuki's voice calling his name, and felt warm arms catch him. But as his vision blurred and blackness came to claim him, he saw a white light erupting from somewhere on the ground and felt a strong pull before he succumbed to the darkness.

_To Be Continued..._

xXx

() – For those of you that haven't read the manga, in vol. 5, Tsuzuki gets sucked into one of Hakushaku's books (the Count's own creation) and meets all the characters who the Hakushaku based on all the shinigami. Tsuzuki (in the book not the one that got sucked in) was a girl who was supposed to marry the count. At the end of the story, Watari pulled him out of the book.


	2. The Characters

_Disclaimer: _Yami no Matsuei is not mine, I don't want to own it because I'll probably totally ruin the wonderful characters anyway so I'm sticking with fanfiction.

_Warning: _spoilers mainly in Devil's Trill Arc and Manga Vol. 2.

_Author's Note: _Right now, I feel like beating myself on the head with a hammer. I uploaded the first chapter without putting in the title for the Count's book! It's fixed now along with some grammar mistakes. Just for those who don't want to go back to read that chapter again, the title of Hakushaku-sama's book is called 'Amaryllis'. Yes, that's where the title of this fic came from. Sorry about that.

And to answer the question how you can tell Hakushaku-sama winked, well, you can't. (sweat drop) Let's just say the Count winked forgetting that nobody can see him considering he does have a proper body and face under that mask and Hisoka rolled his eyes not at the winking but at what the Hakushaku said about Tsuzuki... Can you tell that I'm trying to bail myself out of trouble?

Finally, thanks to the following people for reviewing: DarkSapphireDragon, neko-nya, real-circus, Pich, and Amethyst Jade

xXx

**Amaryllis **

_Chapter Two: The Characters_

"That shield has got to come down!" Tatsumi exclaimed, staring at the dome-like barrier that covered the concert hall. Watari's attention, however, was elsewhere.

"What's wrong?" Tatsumi asked at the wide-eyed expression on the blond scientist's face.

"This is Hijiri's concert," Watari answered weakly as he looked at the advertisement outside the door.

Just then, a white light coming from somewhere inside distracted both shinigamis. Already loud screams became even louder as the people trapped inside assumed the worst was happening. They pushed against each other and against the locked doors, which they could not understand why wouldn't open. Then as if an unspoken order had been given, the doors swung out and frantic people poured out, screaming in hysterics and running as fast as they could in every direction.

The shinigamis could only stare dumbly as the shield came down with a bang!

Watari blinked in confusion. "What just...happened?"

"The shield came down," Tatsumi stated the obvious, "Let's go," He gestured to Watari and headed toward the open doorway now empty of people.

Sirens of police cars were getting louder. Someone must have contacted the cops, Tatsumi realized. It didn't bother them since they were in invisible mode but he still hoped to find his missing comrades before the cops arrived. _Or the book..._ His mind reminded him unpleasantly.

"See them anywhere?" Watari broke into Tatsumi's thoughts.

"No," The secretary snapped. Worry was making him be on edge.

"Tatsumi?"

"What?" Tatsumi glared without meaning to.

"How did the shield come down?" Watari asked cheerfully.

Tatsumi was about to answer that someone must have broken it when he realized his answer wouldn't have made any sense. "Well, it wasn't Tsuzuki-san." He glared at Watari again. Watari only smiled innocently. If it had been him, they would have spotted him by now or at least Kurosaki-kun, but it was quite empty except for a few dead bodies and unconscious people lying around. Tatsumi realized something else too.

"I can't sense anything," It was true. The evil, whatever it was, that caused all this mess seemed to have disappeared with Tsuzuki and Hisoka.

"So you mean the shield came down by itself? That doesn't make sense," Watari said, frowning.

"Not necessary. There are three ways the shield can come down and those are if the person who put it up takes it down, if it's broken by another force, or if the distance between the person who put it up and the shield itself is too far, then, the shield falls by itself," Tatsumi explained. Then he realized what he'd just said, "I think we should start searching for the book now."

Watari stared at him. "You're not serious."

"I am," Tatsumi sighed and pushed his glasses up.

By now, the police forces had arrived. They piled in carrying out the bodies and wounded people to the hospital, either for treatment or to be identified. Bystanders were questioned and the few people that hadn't left the hall were been asked the details.

"...a bomb went off and people started to panic and scream and running away from the performance. Then there was another explosion..." A man who appeared to have been with the orchestra was speaking with a police officer. "It was really chaotic and we were all running toward the exits but then I saw something."

"What did you see, sir?" the cop asked while jotting down notes.

"I saw a man briefly and he was pulling that young violinist, Hijiri, into the backstage."

Tatsumi and Watari whipped around at this and listened carefully.

"Can you give us a description sir?"

"He was wearing all white and had silver hair. I couldn't tell how tall he was but I did see his face. He had only one eye. The right one was an mechanical one I think..."

Tatsumi and Watari looked at each other. Without another word, they sprinted into the music hall and toward the stage, running by rows of seats. They stomped onto the stage, behind the curtain, and into the darkened backstage. There was no doubt in their minds that the man the witness had seen was Muraki: who else wore all white, had silver hair, and one eye? They had no idea why Muraki wanted Hijiri but it was clear that Tsuzuki and Hisoka had fallen into another one of the doctor's traps.

Two policemen were there. One of them held a book in their hands. The invisible shinigamis went over, grabbed the book out of the man's hand and before the dazed cop could blink, they had left the music hall behind.

xXx

He was awake, which meant there was work to do. Lazily, he stretched and yawned, buzzing his wings. Then the beetle took off into the whiteness that was his world.

There were four figures, unconscious and seemingly floating in thin air. It would have been quite strange but in here, there was no dimension, no gravity, and no direction. It was just empty, containing nothing. Well, not yet anyway.

_Two shinigami, two human, interesting..._The beetle got to work.

xXx

Sakura reminded him of a lot of things, none of which were nice. Fear and horror, the emotions always came first. Then images of pain and visions of death would follow. The desire to live would seem so ridiculous but it wasn't possible to let go, for the idea of death was even more frightening. It was a moment when the soul is stuck in the middle, unable to live and unable to die while fires of pain burned around, cutting, shredding until there was nothing left to hope. Despair and darkness. The desperate cries would become hoarse and disappear and answered by nothing except the silent fall of petals but the mind...the mind could not stop screaming! Innocence would be forever shattered while life was cruelly torn away from a body. A moon, red like life, like blood, was the only witness. Petals. Sakura. His nightmares started and ended with them.

There were sakura petals now but he knew he wasn't dreaming this time as he sat in a dark corner of his own mind under the tree. He was perfectly aware of himself but something was keeping him from waking up. Then he felt something breaking through one of the barriers he set up in his mind. Strangely, there was no pain. An image soon appeared. He recognized it immediately and felt dread creep up his spine. But it was different this time. Unlike before, he could not feel the fear and terror and pain. He felt detached somehow as if he was only watching everything. And he was.

The memory was soon replaced by another and then another. In every one of them he was merely a spectator. He realized that someone must be looking through his head, tampering with his mental shields. A little frightened by that idea, he tried to build them back up. It didn't work. He couldn't even move at all. He struggled pointlessly but the images continued to shift and change. Then there was a push against his final wall. Now more than a little anxious, he tried again to fight.

He didn't want anyone to find out what was behind that wall. It was a place even he was afraid to look too deeply into. He found it confusing and frightening, not in the same sense as his nightmares but still frightening all the same. Strangely, however, he sometimes found himself yearning for the feel of warmth behind that wall. There was comfort and safety. He wanted to trust it. But those urges were crushed cruelly. He didn't trust anyone because trust made him week and vulnerable. He would be betrayed and he didn't want to be hurt ever again. Therefore, the only thing he could think of to do was to push it away, bury it deep inside him under all the other thoughts and feelings. But now it was about to be opened and he was scared. There was absolutely nothing he could do except watch as the wall cracked and fell apart.

_"...Hisoka, come try this apple pie..."  
_

_A deep rich laughter that sent his knees melting...  
_

_"...Hisoka are you alright?..."  
_

_Amethyst eyes staring intently into his...  
_

_"...Watch out, Hisoka..."  
_

_Warm, caring arms wrapping around him, protecting him...  
_

_"...Why do you stick your nose into other people's business...? Nandedayo...?"  
_

_"...You're my partner..."_

xXx

Unknown to Hisoka, Tsuzuki was also having the same problem although he was dealing with it much more efficiently.

His mind was dark, contrasting with the world they had all ended up in but he had no way of knowing that. He wondered what had happened. At the same time he was also worried sick about the two boys. Were they alright? What about Muraki? Muraki can go to hell for all he cared but the last thing he remembered before been shut up in his own mind was Hisoka's cry of pain. Damn Muraki. Unless someone woke him up, he couldn't do anything. He bit his lip instead.

It took a moment for him to realize what had happened as images floated through the darkness of his mind. He blinked as the events of that morning played like a movie in front of him. What the... Well, he wasn't the one conjuring up that image. Why would he? It wasn't even that pleasant. Then suddenly he felt it. Something or someone was trying to tap into the first of his barriers. Before he could pull himself together to strengthen that shield, it had shattered like glass. Memories floated before him again.

_Ok, Asato calm down. That memory wasn't that bad, you just have to stop whoever from taking down more shields._

There were some memories and thoughts he would rather keep hidden and to himself, thank you very much. He concentrated. Nothing happened except more images came floating like water. It was distracting, really. An image from one of his dreams appeared. He blushed. That was NOT good. Whoever it was, was fast approaching his more private thoughts. With a desperation born out of frustration and a bit of anger he threw all his will into strengthening the last of his shields. He felt the someone pause and then another push. The shields held.

_Get out of my head already, whoever you are..._ He sent a message, now quite annoyed and anxious. He felt what was equivalent to a surprised gasp before the presence of the other person or thing disappeared from his head. _Weird..._ He shrugged and prepared to wait until someone decided he could wake up.

xXx

He was dreaming. It was strange because he usually couldn't remember his dreams. And he almost certainly never knew he was dreaming! His life was full of surprises. And he began ticking off all the things that had happened to him during this past year.

First there was the eye problem. He had almost gone blind. The scenery changed to a hospital room and another him was talking with a doctor. Cool... That's another first, he could control his dreams now. He had gotten a surgery and his eye had been fixed. Next was meeting Kazusa and getting that nice violin. In a swirl of colours, Kazusa appeared holding her teddybear and a violin lay on the bed. Well, that violin was where all his troubles started. He had tried to commit suicide, went to Meifu, met Tsuzuki and Hisoka and the other shinigamis, and learned that a demon was after him. He was seeing that final battle again and watching as Kazusa had pushed him aside to save him from the falling boulders. Kazusa had died that day. If it hadn't been for him then Kazusa wouldn't...and with a jolt he remembered his concert and how it had gone awfully, awfully wrong.

That man had grabbed him while he was trying to get out like the other people. The man had whispered to him saying how he looked like his doll and how he was going to help get his doll back. He had no idea what the man was talking about until Tsuzuki and Hisoka had shown up...

As he remembered these things he began worrying about the shinigami. What had happened to Hisoka? Was he safe? Or was he... It was all his fault again, just like that time with Kazusa. If anything happened to the other boy, he didn't think he could forgive himself. And where's Tsuzuki? Tsuzuki had saved him once and now all he could do to pay back the debt was to get them into trouble. And how did he fall asleep in the first place? If he remembered correctly, Hisoka was about to be kidnapped by that sadistic bastard. It wasn't time for sleep!

It was then that he began to realize that something was very wrong. Now that he thought about it, was it even possible to be thinking and mope about the past in a dream? _Oh please, let Tsuzuki and Hisoka be alright...  
_

A shock ran through his mind. He shook his head slightly to clear his brain. What had he been thinking about? Oh ya, Tsuzuki...

_...Tsuzuki..._

_...Tsuzuki... ..._

_...Tsuzuki...?  
_

_...Who is Tsuzuki?_

xXx

He cracked open one eye and glanced around at his surroundings. White. Ok, not bad, he liked white. Then he saw the other three people floating around him not so far away. A beetle was muttering to himself. He observed as the bug busied himself with his doll. "...this kid's empathic, huh...interesting...what's this?...a curse...?" He closed his eye and stayed perfectly still as the beetle glanced his way.

The bug was reading minds? He could feel the magic around this place and he was curious. The spell that had kept him unconscious had been awfully easy to crack. Wherever he was, it certainly didn't look like that concert hall.

"...this'll make an interesting plot for this book..."

He blinked at what the beetle had just said. Oh, so they were in a book, that explained why it was white. Then he remembered that his doll had been carrying a book. They must have been sucked in when the book was dropped open. He watched as the beetle moved on to Tsuzuki-san, appearing to be finished whatever he wanted to do with the other shinigami. He heard the little bug gasp and narrowed his eyes again as the beetle stared at him. Then it went back to what it had been doing. After a moment it flew away from his Tsuzuki-san, muttering something about no respect.

He continued to observe the little thing and had to close his eyes again as he was given yet another suspicious look. _Stupid bug._ He muttered under his breath.

"...What is Hakushaku-sama thinking sending me these characters..." The bug muttered.

They were to be characters of this book. How absolutely ridiculous. And it looked like he would be meeting the other shinigamis and this 'Hakushaku-sama' person when they got out. The future didn't look very bright at the moment.

The bug was heading for him now. He closed his eye and pretended to be asleep. He felt the vile thing land on his forehead and a presence entered his mind. He allowed it to look through his thoughts, hiding nothing. At the same time, making use of this mental contact, he went into the beetle's mind and carefully learned all there was to learn about the situation. He could sense that the bug was horrified at his thoughts. He smirked inwardly. It looked like there would be a few changes in his original plan. He loved a good challenge.

Suddenly he felt new memories trying to block out his own. They were memories of the character he was to be, he realized. He placed a spell to protect his own thoughts. Well, he could always play along for a little while. This would prove to be an interesting experience after all.

xXx

As the manager of the book, it was his job to create the plot and see that it comes to a happy end. The Hakushaku certainly loved those. But as he looked through the thoughts of his characters-to-be, that kind of seemed impossible. Even if he could give them new memories, their personalities would be impossible to change. Then again, he wasn't the master storyteller for nothing. Plots flew through his head at a rapid pace.

_This would be a happy story..._ the beetle decided. Those two especially deserved it. Then he glared at the other one. His plans must not be allowed to complete. It would only bring disaster. Then he began casting a spell that would give them new memories to fit the plot. He didn't even notice that Muraki was awake and smirking.

xXx

Back in Meifu, Tatsumi, Watari, and the Hakushaku surrounded a table. They stared at the book, opened it, and began to read...

_To Be Continued..._

xXx

Notes:

Nandedayo? – Why?

Thanks for reading! Tell me if anything didn't make sense and please review


End file.
